Albania Planning Vatican City-Style Muslim Microstate
24th September 2024
Albania’s government is set to grant sovereignty to the Tirana-based Bektashi Muslims, an Islamic Sufi order, in the hope of promoting a moderate form of Islam. If plans are seen through, the “Sovereign State of the Bektashi Order” would become the smallest state in the world, just a quarter of the size of Vatican City.
Edmond Brahimaj, the Muslim cleric preparing to lead the 27-acre microstate, told The New York Times that the enclave will allow alcohol, permit women to wear what they want and impose no lifestyle rules. Other sources have described the planned development as a “liberal Muslim microstate.”
Much like the Bantu mini-state homelands South Africa tried to set up to remove native Africans from the apartheid state. Those didn’t work, and I suspect that this one won’t either.